A recent trend in exercise equipment has been to attach a portion of a heavy rope to a fixed anchoring point and alternately raising and lowering the free end of the rope by arm movements. The rope apparatus used for this exercise is known among fitness professionals as “battling ropes.” The user of the rope apparatus either raises and lowers two rope ends in unison or in opposite timing, one rope going up while the other rope goes down. The exercise can be used to strengthen the shoulder muscles by moving the whole arm to raise and lower the ropes or strengthen the biceps and triceps by flexure and extension of the elbows. Use of these exercises has also been found to be beneficial to overall balance and stability by strengthening body core muscle groups. Current practice has been to attach the rope ends to wall mounted brackets or equipment holders. With multiple people using ropes for exercise simultaneously, each person is facing the wall and they are standing in a line.
While the description below is directed mainly to rope exercise equipment, elastic bands are also adaptable to the stanchion provided. In the case of elastic bands, the exercises involve extension of the bands to work arm, abdominal, back and leg muscle groups.
Many gyms, especially gyms in schools, have tubular sockets permanently set into the gym floor. The sockets are designed to hold the posts for supporting a volleyball net or similar device. The invention described below is adapted for being mounted in this type of post socket to allow the ropes or other exercise equipment to be anchored in the middle area of a gym floor to improve accessibility.